A Misty Heart of Pain
by Yunagirlamy
Summary: On the night of your wife's funeral, it wasn't very hard to feel even the tiniest bit sad.


**Disclaimer: I do not own Pokémon. I only own any characters that have not appeared in it. **

He remembered the very first day he saw her. He didn't know it then, but she was one of the most beautiful things in this world. He couldn't really help it though if Pikachu needed to be brought to a Pokémon Centre quickly. If it wasn't for her deciding to leave home to become a Pokémon Master, then Pikachu wouldn't be here today… but she _still would_.

"_Hey, what are you _doing_?"_

"_I'm borrowing this!"_

"_Wai—hey, that's my bike!"_

"_I'll give it back someday!"_

He never did. Of course, if he _did_ give it back before they got attached to each other he would never be holding onto his little girl for dear life right now. Because of how his daughter was born, he nearly lost her early. Her body was too weak to give birth, so a caesarean had to be performed. Both she _and_ his daughter were close to death then, but thankfully the two pulled through. It was a _very_ close call then and ever since, he'd been overprotective of them.

The patter of rain on the window started up. Briefly, he chuckled – rain, on the day of someone's funeral; that was such a cliché. His daughter lifted her head up from his shoulder and quietly asked him why he was laughing and why it sounded different from all the other times he laughed.

"It doesn't matter," he replied. Then he smiled warmly at her, pulled her small body more towards and planted a kiss on her forehead. Sighing, he turned on his side and wrapped his arms around his four-year-old, who snuggled into his chest. He expected to feel some wetness on his pyjama top but nothing came.

"Daddy, it's wainin'," his girl mumbled into his top.

"I know, Violet."

"It reminds me of Mommy," she whined. "Because she liked the wain because it's water."

He furrowed his brow. "You don't like that?" Straight after, Violet gripped his top with small fingers and shook her head.

"No. I don't like the wain. It's loud."

A smile twitched at his lips and, shifting onto his back, he placed his hands underneath Violet's arms and settled her body on his. She was only three foot five so it wasn't uncomfortable. He draped his left arm around Violet allowing Pikachu to nestle into his right shoulder.

"Well I can turn the lights on if that would make it less scary," he offered. Violet nodded without hesitation – he knew that would be her answer.

"Yes please," she muttered.

Swiftly he released Violet, reached up to tug on the pull switch that hung at the back of his bed and then the room was bathed with a dim, yellow light. Then, just as quickly as he had released her he put his arm back around Violet.

"Fank you," she remarked.

"You're welcome, sweetie."

Having the light on also made it less frightening for _him_. Not because of the rain, but because he had proof that Violet and Pikachu were still here—he could _see_ them. He would _never_ be able to see _her_ ever again. Technically he _would_, in photographs and whatnot but she'd always look the same. He wouldn't be able to _touch_ her. Never again could he feel her soft skin against his.

Thinking about her caused the pain in his chest to come back. When he was a young boy he'd always heard about it, but he never thought he'd be able to experience it. Whenever he was separated from his Pokémon, Pikachu especially, he would have what now seemed like small doses of it. He only hoped that Violet would _never_ have to go through the pain of heartbreak.

"Daddy, why are you crying?"

He blinked in surprise – having got so caught up in his thoughts and memories, he didn't realise that tears started to stream from his brown eyes. Moving gently so that he wouldn't disturb Pikachu who was now deep in slumber he brought his hand up and wiped away the tears from his right eye. He would have done so for his left eye but his daughter did it before he could, presenting him a small smile whilst she did so. Even if she was older, it still would have been cute.

"I was just thinking a sad thought, that's all." Violet gasped at this revelation.

"Don't think sad, Daddy," she told him. "I'm trying my bestest not to be sad. You can too."

"I'm sorry, princess," he said whilst stroking her black hair, "Daddy can't help but _be_ sad."

Violet did not accept this, though.

"No!" she cried, shaking her head. "Mummy would be sad if she knew _you_ were sad so I'm not being sad so Mummy isn't sad!"

He silently sniggered. Here he was a twenty-four-year-old with a four-year-old who was making a _lot_ more sense than he was.

"You're right, Violet," he replied. "So why don't we make sure we're not sad again tonight?"

"How?" the young girl questioned, tilting her head. However, she rapidly found out as her father grabbed her arms, made her kneel on his knees and then, triggering a squeal of delight from his daughter, he elevated his legs. Laughter which sounded like music to his ears rang out from his daughter. A wide grin developed on his face upon seeing hers. Cautiously, because he didn't want to risk hurting Violet, he moved his legs up and down, producing high-pitched giggles from his baby.

"No—more—Daddy!"

"All right, sweetheart," he said, and gently brought his legs back down. Violet instantly crawled on her hands and knees up his body and rested her head on his left shoulder. "I bet that was a lot of fun, huh?" he asked, rubbing at the tip of her hairline.

"Uh-huh," she countered, nodding her head fervently. At that moment, indicating that activity had sucked up all the energy she had left, her mouth opened in a massive yawn.

"Somebody's tired," her dad commentated.

"Only if that somebody gets to sleep in Daddy's bed," Violet said with a smirk curling at her mouth.

"You're just like your mother."

Violet didn't answer to that. Instead she flopped down onto the other side of her dad and covered herself with the quilt. Her father did the same to himself and Pikachu.

"Goodnight, Violet," he spoke. "Love you... see you in the morning." He'd never added that last part on before—the only reason it was there now was to promise Violet that she _was_ going to see him in the morning, that he would still be there when she opened her brown eyes the following day.

She didn't say anything back having fallen asleep due to tiredness and comfort. Looking down at her and Pikachu, her father only wished he would go to sleep as fast as she did.

Because without Misty, tonight it would be difficult for Ash to get _any _sleep.

His heart was simply too broken.

**AN: Well I was originally going to save this for my story, **_**A Violet in Bloom**_**, but I had the urge to write it. As far as I can remember, I've never had that legs thing done to me so I don't know if I got it right. I was just going off what I've seen from pictures and on the telly. Anyway, I hope you enjoyed it. **

**Yunagirlamy, 22.8.11.**


End file.
